3,132 entries categorized "Diplomacy / Foreign Assistance"

March 03, 2015

Reuters reports Iran on Tuesday rejected as "unacceptable" U.S. President Barack Obama's demand that it freeze sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years but said it would continue talks on a deal, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported. Iran laid out the position as the U.S. and Iranian foreign ministers met for a second day of negotiations and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a stinging critique of the agreement that they are trying to work out. Iran's Mohammed Javad Zarif and the United States' John Kerry met a day after Obama told Reuters that Iran must commit to a verifiable halt of at least 10 years on sensitive nuclear work for a landmark atomic deal to be reached.

Politico reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued his warnings to Congress on Tuesday not to trust Iran, or any promises its government may make in a nuclear deal. President Barack Obama quickly gave his response. He hadn’t watched, but “I did have a chance to take a look at the transcript, and as far as I can tell there was nothing new.” Netanyahu took his case to Congress, in a speech calculated to stir emotions as he tried to derail negotiations over lifting some sanctions in return for Iran curbing its nuclear weapons program. Obama said he’d continue making the case to Congress himself, but his response was firm. “Foreign policy runs through the executive branch and the president, not through other channels,” he told reporters in the Oval Office, at the start of a meeting with new Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.

The New York Times reports the Afghan Army lost more than 20,000 fighters and others last year largely because of desertions, discharges and deaths in combat, according to figures to be released Tuesday, casting further doubt on Afghanistan’s ability to maintain security without help from United States-led coalition forces. The nearly 11 percent decline from January to November 2014, to roughly 169,000 uniformed and civilian members from 190,000, is now an issue of deep concern among some in the American military. For example, the former No. 2 American commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, called the rate of combat deaths unsustainable before he departed at the end of last year.

March 02, 2015

Reuters reports the U.S. ambassador to Yemen visited President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Aden on Sunday, their first public meeting since Washington closed its embassy in Sanaa last month after Houthis took full control there. Hadi has resumed official duties from southern Yemen's main city, where he fled last month after Houthi fighters put him under house arrest in Sanaa when they stormed his private residence and the presidency compound in January. Washington has been worried over a deepening crisis in Yemen after the Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim Houthi group overran Sanaa last September and sidelined Hadi's government. It fears the move will further embolden al-Qaeda's local branch, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which sees Shi'ites as heretics.

The Guardian reports the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, have met in Switzerland to try to shore-up a shaky two-week old ceasefire in Ukraine. Kerry said Monday’s talks in Geneva involved frank discussions on Ukraine, coming less than a week after he accused Moscow of lying about its involvement in the conflict, which has claimed 6,000 lives. Lavrov and Kerry spoke for roughly 80 minutes, according to the US State Department, which did not immediately provide details of the discussions. Kerry was expected to warn his Russian counterpart that the US and EU were already working on further sanctions – on top of those already imposed on Moscow – if it did not stick to the ceasefire deal, American officials said. In congressional testimony last week, Kerry said further US sanctions had already been prepared and suggested they could be implemented soon. Kerry was also expected to press Lavrov to ensure that Moscow carries out a credible investigation into the killing of the Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov.

CNN reports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a conciliatory tone Monday, reaffirming the U.S.-Israeli relationship remains strong and, despite controversy surrounding his Tuesday address to Congress, said the two nations "will weather this current disagreement." "Our friendship will weather the current disagreement as well, to grow even stronger in the future — because we share the same dreams," he said in his address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual policy conference, drawing enthusiastic applause from the crowd. Polling has shown Americans disapprove of House Speaker John Boehner's move to invite Netanyahu to speak to Congress without notifying the White House. That, and the timing of the speech so close to the Israeli election, has critics accusing Boehner and Netanyahu of politicizing the issue of Iranian nuclear talks, and a growing number of Democrats are planning to boycott what they see as an attack on the president.

The Washington Post reports North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan on Monday morning, registering its displeasure with the start of annual military exercises between South Korea and the United States. After offering to suspend nuclear tests if the United States and South Korea canceled the drills, Pyongyang has reverted saber rattling, threatening “merciless strikes” just hours before the missiles were launched. North Korea fired the two missiles, thought to be Scud-C or Scud-D types, from the western coastal city of Nampo, about 300 miles over the peninsula and into the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday. The launches took place at 6:32 a.m. and 6:41 a.m., it said in a statement. They were launched as South Korea and the United States began military exercises to practice to coordinate their response to the North Korean threat: The two-week-long computer-simulated Key Resolve drill, and the Foal Eagle field exercises, which will continue through April 24.

Reuters reports a deal on Iran's nuclear program could be concluded this week if the United States and other Western countries have sufficient political will and agree to remove sanctions on Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday. "Our negotiating partners, particularly the Western countries and particularly the United States, must once and for all come to the understanding that sanctions and agreement don't go together," he said in Geneva. "If they want an agreement, sanctions must go... We believe all sanctions must be lifted." He told reporters that Iran, whose disagreement with six world powers over how fast sanctions should be dropped is one of the main obstacles to a final nuclear accord, had demonstrated its political will by bringing its highest authorities to the talks and leaving "no stone unturned". Asked about his expectations for talks this week with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Zarif said things were advancing.

The New York Times reports as the deadline approaches for what could be one of the most important and divisive international agreements in decades, Secretary of State John Kerry has become a driving force behind the complicated, seven-nation talks to limit Iran’s nuclear program. But with so much at stake, Kerry’s relentless negotiating style and determination to engage with Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, have become part of the debate. To proponents of the emerging accord, Kerry’s determination has made all the difference. To critics, Kerry’s eagerness is an open invitation for the Iranians to press for concessions as the talks enter the final stage.

February 27, 2015

The New York Times reports as Cuban diplomats gather in Washington on Friday for historic talks to restore relations with the United States, their diplomatic entourage may carry something even more tangible than political demands: bundles of cash. The reason is that, as one of the few nations in the world on the American government’s list of countries that sponsor terrorism, Cuba cannot find a bank in the United States that will do business with it, State Department officials say. Now, Cuba’s spot on the American list of states that sponsor terrorism is emerging as a major sticking point in the effort to restore diplomatic ties with the United States and reopen embassies that have been closed for nearly five decades. On Friday, Cuban and American officials will meet in Washington for a second round of talks — the first were in Havana in January — aimed at carrying out the vow of President Obama and President Raúl Castro to restore diplomatic relations as a prelude to more normal ties.

BBC News reports Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said a "military threat from the east" will remain even if a ceasefire holds between government troops and pro-Russian rebels in the east. Poroshenko's warning is widely seen as an indirect reference to Russia. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of helping the rebels with weapons and soldiers - a claim denied by Moscow. Ukraine's military said on Friday that three soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours despite the truce. Another seven soldiers were wounded, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a news briefing. That followed 48 hours during which the Ukrainian military said it had suffered no deaths, boosting hopes that the ceasefire might hold.

February 25, 2015

Reuters reports under the glare of the Saharan sun, a U.S. special forces trainer corrects the aim of a Chadian soldier as he takes cover behind a Toyota pick-up and fires at a target with his AK47 -- a drill that could soon save his life. Chad is sending hundreds of troops to fight Boko Haram in neighboring Nigeria as part of a regional offensive against the Islamist group, which killed an estimated 10,000 people last year in a campaign to carve an Islamic emirate from the north of Africa's largest oil producer. At the end of the exercise, a U.S. trainer shows the 85 Chadians the paper target peppered with bullet holes - many of them outside the drawing of a gunman. "Not so great," he says and orders them to do a round of push-ups -- in which American, Italian and Belgian trainers all take part, laughing.

AFP reports the United States said Wednesday that Russia and separatist rebels were still not complying with a ceasefire in Ukraine, despite a lull in the killing. "To date, neither Russia nor the forces it is supporting have come close to complying with their commitments," Secretary of State John Kerry told US lawmakers, renewing warnings that Moscow would face further sanctions. A day earlier, Kerry had said the Russians were persisting in "lies... to my face" about their activities in Ukraine. The US dismisses Moscow's denials about giving military backing to the separatists in east Ukraine. Russia has in turn warned it could cut off gas supplies to Ukraine within days -- and, by extension, to parts of the European Union.

BBC News reports Amnesty International has urged the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to give up their power of veto in cases where atrocities are being committed. In its annual report, the rights group said the global response to an array of catastrophes in 2014 had been shameful. Richer countries were guilty of taking an "abhorrent" stance by not sheltering more refugees, Amnesty said. The outlook for 2015 was bleak, the group added. Saying that 2014 had been a catastrophic year for victims of conflict and violence, Amnesty said world leaders needed to act immediately to confront the changing nature of armed conflict.

February 23, 2015

BBC News reports Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif says talks to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear program will resume in Geneva next week after "some progress in certain aspects." U.S. officials also spoke of "some progress" after talks between Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. But both sides stated much remained to be done. Iran and six international powers are aiming to reach a framework agreement in March and a final deal by 30 June. Talks between Tehran and Washington were "useful, constructive and serious," Zarif said after two days of meetings with his U.S. counterpart. But he warned it was still "a long way to reach a final agreement." The talks were part of the latest three-day round of Iran's negotiations with the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

Reuters reports Turkey will make its planned new long-range missiles compatible with the NATO's systems, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Monday, in comments apparently at odds with those of the country's defense minister. NATO member Turkey chose China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp as a preferred bidder in 2013 to supply the missile system, prompting Western concern about security and the compatibility of the weaponry with NATO infrastructure. Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said last week Ankara did not plan to integrate the new defence system with NATO systems, adding to those concerns. But Kalin said on Monday: "As one of the most important countries in NATO's security line, we will definitely ensure this integration and harmony."

The New York Times reports a newly disclosed National Security Agency document illustrates the striking acceleration of the use of cyberweapons by the United States and Iran against each other, both for spying and sabotage, even as Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart met in Geneva to try to break a stalemate in the talks over Iran’s disputed nuclear program. The document, which was written in April 2013 for Gen. Keith B. Alexander, then the director of the National Security Agency, described how Iranian officials had discovered new evidence the year before that the United States was preparing computer surveillance or cyberattacks on their networks.

February 20, 2015

The Wall Street Journal reports Egypt’s president made an aggressive gambit this week to win broad international support for military intervention to fight Islamic State in neighboring Libya—his first major foray onto the global stage. But Western diplomats said he was rebuffed because of his own crackdown at home on moderate Islamists. Egypt conducted its first airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, a day after the group released a video purporting to show the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christian workers in Libya. President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi followed up by calling on the United Nations Security Council to sanction a broader international military campaign against the Islamist extremist group’s newest front in Libya.

The Associated Press reports the operation to retake Iraq's second largest city from Islamic State militants will likely begin in April or May and will involve about 12 Iraqi brigades, or between 20,000 and 25,000 troops, a senior U.S. military official said Thursday. Laying out details of the expected Mosul operation for the first time, the official from U.S. Central Command said five Iraqi Army brigades will soon go through coalition training in Iraq to prepare for the mission. Those five would make up the core fighting force that would launch the attack, but they would be supplemented by three smaller brigades serving as reserve forces, along with three Peshmerga brigades who would contain the Islamic State fighters from the north and west.

Reuters reports Iran has refrained from expanding tests of more efficient models of a machine used to refine uranium under a nuclear agreement with six world powers, a U.N. report shows, allaying concerns it might be violating the accord. Tehran's development of advanced centrifuges is sensitive because, if successful, it could enable it to produce potential nuclear bomb material at a rate several times that of the decades-old version of the machine now in use. An interim accord in 2013 between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia stipulated Tehran could continue its "current enrichment R&D (research and development) practices", implying they should not be stepped up.

February 19, 2015

Reuters reports the United States and Turkey have signed an agreement to train and equip moderate Syrian opposition fighters, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday. The U.S. military has said it is planning to send more than 400 troops, including special operations forces, to train Syrian moderates at sites outside Syria as part of the fight against Islamic State militants. "The agreement was signed by the foreign ministry undersecretary and the U.S. ambassador," the official told Reuters. U.S. officials have said they plan to train about 5,000 Syrian fighters a year for three years under the plan. Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as Turkey, have publicly offered to host training sites.

The Wall Street Journal reports Syrian rebels on Wednesday dismissed a United-Nations cease-fire proposal for the city of Aleppo agreed to by Syrian President Bashar al- Assad, saying he has never negotiated in good faith during the country’s nearly four-year civil war. Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. and Arab League’s special envoy to Syria, said on Tuesday that Assad’s government is prepared to suspend for six weeks airstrikes on Aleppo, once Syria’s most populous city. De Mistura has been pushing for a local cease-fire in Aleppo as the foundation for the building of a broader peace settlement for the country. The announcement on Tuesday that Assad was willing to accept a temporary truce came the same day that government forces, backed by allied militia, advanced north of Aleppo in an attempt to cut off the rebel’s key supply route and encircle the city.

The Guardian reports in the first of two speeches to a counter-extremism summit in Washington, President Obama reiterated his determination to avoid letting the agenda become characterized as a battle against Islam, saying this would be playing into the hands of Isis and other terrorist groups. “They propagate the notion that America, and the West generally, is at war with Islam; that’s how they recruit, that’s how they try to radicalize young people,” he said. While putting the blame on the Islamic State and similar groups — Obama said the militants masqueraded as religious leaders but were really terrorists — the president also appealed directly to prominent Muslims to do more to distance themselves from brutal ideologies, calling it the duty of all to “speak up very clearly” in opposition to violence against innocent people.

The Associated Press reports the U.S. has screened about 1,200 moderate Syrian rebels who could participate in a new training program so they eventually can return to the fight against Islamic State insurgents who have taken control of large portions of Syria, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby says the fighters will continue to be screened as they move through the process, and they could go to any of the three training facilities in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar — once those sites are set up. The rebel fighters, who come from several moderate groups in Syria, will get training on basic military equipment and skills, including firearms, communications and command and control abilities.

Reuters reports Iran has still not addressed specific issues that could feed suspicions it may have researched an atomic bomb, a U.N. watchdog report showed on Thursday, potentially complicating efforts by six powers to clinch a nuclear deal with Tehran. Iran and U.S. negotiators will resume talks over Tehran's nuclear program in Geneva on Friday to narrow remaining gaps aimed at ending a 12-year standoff with the powers, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported. The confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), obtained by Reuters, said Tehran was continuing to withhold full cooperation in two areas of a long-running IAEA investigation that it had committed to giving by August last year. "Iran has not provided any explanations that enable the agency to clarify the outstanding practical measures," the IAEA said, referring to allegations of explosives tests and other activity that could be used to develop nuclear bombs.

February 18, 2015

Reuters reports the White House said on Wednesday that Israeli officials had mischaracterized U.S. negotiations on Iran's nuclear program and criticized what it called "a continued practice of cherry-picking" and leaking information out of context. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the Obama administration is mindful of the need to keep the negotiations private and accused Israel of distorting the U.S. position. "There's no question that some of the things that the Israelis have said in characterizing our negotiating position have not been accurate," Earnest said at a news briefing. "There's no question about that."

NPR reports following heavy shelling in what had been a Ukraine-controlled city, the central government's force is retreating from Debaltseve, a key railroad and transportation hub. Ukraine says it has now withdrawn 80 percent of its armed forces from the city. "I can say now that the Ukrainian armed forces and the National Guard completed an operation on the planned and organized withdrawal of some units from Debaltseve this morning," Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said, according to the Interfax news agency in Ukraine. . Poroshenko is seeking a "tough reaction" from international leaders who brokered the recent cease-fire with Russian-backed separatists. A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was instrumental in the peace talks, says the rebels are committing "a massive violation" of the temporary peace. A conference call is scheduled for later today, in which Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany will discuss possible reactions, according to a French official.

BBC News reports the U.S. has announced it will begin allowing sales of armed drones to some friendly and allied countries. Only the U.K. has been allowed to purchase armed unmanned aircraft. Other countries have unarmed craft. Countries purchasing drones must sign agreements they will only be used for military campaigns and the U.S. will review how the country is complying. The change comes amid China exporting drones from its own unmanned program to at least nine countries. In the newly published policy, the state department did not specify which countries would be considered for armed drone sales, but unnamed officials told U.S. media previous requests by Italy and Turkey would be reconsidered. U.S. lawmakers are also currently considering selling unarmed Predator drones to the United Arab Emirates.

DefenseNews reports NATO allies Turkey and the US are close to reaching a deal to equip and train the mildly-Islamist Free Syrian Army (FSA), a senior Turkish diplomat said Tuesday. "Negotiations have been concluded and an agreement text will be signed with the US regarding the training of the Free Syrian Army in the coming period," Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic told reporters. A military official said that in the first phase of the plan about 2,000 FSA fighters will be trained by a Turkish-US team at a military base in Turkey. The training could start in March, he said, and that the number can go up to 15,000 fighters and beyond, depending on how FSA's war against Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad develops in the years ahead.

February 13, 2015

Reuters reports Iraqi security forces on Friday repelled an attack by Islamic State insurgents against an air base in Anbar province where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said. Militants from the jihadist group had attacked the Ain al-Asad base and the nearby town of al-Baghdadi a day earlier, leading to sporadic clashes in the town overnight. Al-Baghdadi has been besieged for months by Islamic State, which captured swathes of northern and western Iraq last year, prompting a campaign of U.S.-led air strikes and the deployment of hundreds of U.S. military advisers to the country. A U.S. defense official said the Iraqi forces had stopped the attack and re-secured the facility.

February 12, 2015

Reuters reports the United States on Thursday sharply criticized Sudan for obstructing a United Nations investigation into what Washington's U.N. envoy said were credible allegations of mass rape in the conflict-torn western Darfur region. Speaking at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power referred to a new report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which accused Sudanese soldiers of raping at least 221 women and girls in the village of Tabit over the course of three days. The council, she said, had to rely on investigations by non-government organizations like HRW because Khartoum had "systematically denied meaningful access" the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID). "To this day, the government of Sudan has shamefully denied the U.N. the ability to properly investigate this incident," she told the 15-nation council.

Reuters reports the United Nations Security Council on Thursday banned all trade in antiquities from war-torn Syria, threatened sanctions on anyone buying oil from Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front militants and urged states to stop kidnap ransom payments. The 15-nation council unanimously adopted a Russian-drafted resolution, which is legally binding and gives the council authority to enforce decisions with economic sanctions. It does not authorize using military force. The U.N. Security Council has long been deadlocked on Syria with Assad's ally Russia, backed by China, vetoing several resolutions on the Syrian conflict. The resolution on Thursday banned trade in Syria antiquities and reaffirmed a ban on Iraqi artifact sales from about a decade ago.

February 11, 2015

The New York Times reports the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany gathered here late Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to negotiate a peace agreement for Ukraine and quiet an escalating, year-old conflict that threatens to destabilize the European continent. President François Hollande of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany arrived in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, joining President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Ukraine’s president Petro O. Poroshenko, after a day of some of the heaviest fighting of the war to date. The Ukrainian government reported that 19 of its soldiers had been killed and 78 wounded in the last 24 hours of fighting with Russian-backed separatists around the contested town of Debaltseve in southeastern Ukraine.

Reuters reports President Barack Obama is considering a request from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to slow the pace of the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. "President Ghani has requested some flexibility in the troop drawdown timeline and base closure sequencing over the next two years, and we are actively considering that request," the official said, speaking on background. Ghani will travel to Washington next month to meet with Obama. Last month, the Afghan president spoke publicly about the U.S. plan to halve the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2015 and cut them further in 2016. He made clear he would prefer a longer timeline and said: "deadlines should not be dogmas."

February 10, 2015

Reuters reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fending off criticism at home and abroad, said on Tuesday he remained determined to speak before the U.S. Congress next month on Iran's nuclear program. "I am going to the United States not because I seek a confrontation with the President, but because I must fulfill my obligation to speak up on a matter that affects the very survival of my country," Netanyahu said in a statement. "I intend to speak about this issue before the March 24th deadline and I intend to speak in the U.S. Congress because Congress might have an important role on a nuclear deal with Iran," he said.

Politico reports embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad says that he is the recipient of valuable intelligence on the U.S. campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria. In an interview with the BBC, Assad said he does not talk to U.S. officials, but he does receive information about American bombing campaigns through “more than one [third] party,” including Iraq. “We knew about the campaign before it started, but we didn’t know about the details,” Assad said. “There’s no dialogue. There’s, let’s say, information.” Assad denied ever knowingly supplying information to American officials. For their part, U.S. officials have denied any intention to coordinate with the Syrian government.

Al Jazeera reports the United States has ordered the closure of its embassy in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, and said its ambassador will leave the country by Wednesday. U.S. officials said on Tuesday they were suspending operations at the embassy citing security concerns. "The ambassador and the rest of the staff will leave by Wednesday evening," an employee, who asked not to be named, told Reuters news agency. According to Reuters, the U.S. will ask either Turkey or Algeria to look after its interests in Yemen while the embassy is closed. Yemen has been plagued by crisis since Houthi fighters forcefully took power on Friday, in a move denounced by the international community.

Reuters reports rebel fighters made a push on Tuesday to cut off a government-held road and rail junction in east Ukraine, vowing on the eve of peace talks that they would not cease fire until they had achieved their aim of taking more territory. Some 30 miles (50 km) north of the front line, in government-held Kramatorsk, rockets slammed into the headquarters of Ukraine's local military operation and a nearby district of residential apartment blocks. The rebels denied firing on the town. Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany are due to hold a summit in Minsk on Wednesday under a new Franco-German initiative to halt fighting that in recent weeks reopened a war which has killed more than 5,000 people.

The New York Times reports the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday launched a series of airstrikes in Syria, returning to combat missions against the Islamic State for the first time since December. A squadron of Emirati F-16 fighters struck Islamic State targets in Syria in the early hours and returned safely to a base in Jordan, the Emirates’ armed forces announced. In an interview, Yousef al-Otaiba, the Emirates’ ambassador to the United States, said that the United States had addressed Emirati concerns that it did not have enough resources in place in northern Iraq to rescue downed pilots. “The suspension of combat operations was made for purely operational and planning reasons, not political ones,” Otaiba said. “Once those concerns were addressed, combat operations resumed.”

February 09, 2015

Reuters reports President Barack Obama said on Monday extending the March deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran would not be useful if Iran does not agree to a basic framework. "At this juncture I don't see a further extension being useful if they have not agreed to basic formulation and the bottom-line that the world requires," he said at the White House after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "We now know enough that the issues are no longer technical," he also said. "The issues now are: does Iran have the political will and the desire to get a deal done?"

The New York Times reports hoping that diplomacy can still calm an escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine and avert a rift with the United States over whether to send arms to Ukraine, European foreign ministers agreed on Monday to postpone imposing a new round of sanctions against Russia in an effort to nudge forward talks with Moscow. The ministers decided not to take action until after a possible meeting later this week among the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, told reporters on Monday after a morning of talks that the ministers had not rescinded an earlier decision to add more individuals to the sanctions list, with asset freezes and bans on travel. But he said the decision would not be put into effect this week as originally planned.

February 06, 2015

BBC News reports Islamic State (IS) militants claim that a US female hostage has been killed in a Jordanian air strike in Syria. IS named the woman as aid worker Kayla Jean Mueller in statements online. The group provided no other proof for the claim beyond pictures of the alleged site of the air strike, in Raqqa, the group's stronghold in Syria. The White House said it was "deeply concerned" by the reports but that it has yet to verify them. Jordan has questioned the IS claims. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Mueller, 26, first came to the Turkish/Syrian border in 2012 to work with refugees. She was abducted while working in Aleppo, Syria the following year. The IS statement said she was killed in the building where she was being held. It did not provide images of a body.

The Washington Post reports Britain’s electronic spy agency was acting unlawfully until December when it received intelligence provided by the U.S. National Security Agency, a British court ruled Friday. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), a court that oversees the intelligence and security agencies, said that Britain’s spy agency, GCHQ, was violating human rights when it received the intercepted communications from the NSA because it did not make its safeguards public. In the tribunal’s 15-year history, this is the first time it has ruled against any of Britain’s intelligence agencies. The court also said that while the lack of transparency in the past meant that GCHQ had breached human rights, the agency has been in compliance with the law since December.

The New York Times reports as the leaders of Germany and France prepared to travel to Moscow on Friday to press President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on a deal to end the war in eastern Ukraine, officials in Kiev insisted that any agreement must hold to the cease-fire lines and to other terms of a truce negotiated in September. The Ukrainian position underscored the formidable obstacles to an accord to end the fighting between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists that has killed more than 5,000 people and displaced more than one million, the worst violence on the European Continent since the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

February 05, 2015

CNN reports recent allegations from a convicted al-Qaeda terrorist have brought new attention to an old debate over whether the White House should release 28 still-classified pages from the 9/11 Commission Report, the majority of which was released over ten years ago. The allegations were made by Zacarias Moussaoui in sworn statements filed as part of a legal brief in an ongoing lawsuit brought by the families of 9/11 victims against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its alleged role in financing the attacks. Saudi officials asked the U.S. to release the redacted 28-page section in 2003, saying this would give them the opportunity to defend themselves against claims of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, which they have long denied.

Reuters reports U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed concern on Thursday about a possible north-south divide in NATO and urged the alliance to tackle multiple security issues at once rather than focusing on only one. Hagel, making his final appearance at NATO as U.S. defense chief, said the alliance faced several challenges, including violent extremism on its southern rim, Russian aggression in Ukraine and training security forces in Afghanistan. "I am very concerned by the suggestion that this alliance can choose to focus on only one of these areas as our top priority," Hagel told a news conference. "And I worry about the potential for division between our northern and southern allies."

The New York Times reports with fighting intensifying in eastern Ukraine and the White House weighing whether to send arms to bolster the government’s forces, Western leaders embarked on a broad diplomatic effort on Thursday aimed at ending a conflict that has strained relations with Russia. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France traveled to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on Thursday for talks with President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine, officials from the two countries said. On Friday, Merkel and Hollande are to continue to Moscow, to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin to discuss a new initiative from the Kremlin to end the fighting in Ukraine. The German and French moves were announced as Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kiev for high-level talks. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. prepared for parallel consultations on Friday with European leaders in Brussels.

February 04, 2015

The New York Times reports the United Arab Emirates, a crucial Arab ally in the American-led coalition against the Islamic State, suspended airstrikes against the Sunni extremist group in December, citing fears for its pilots’ safety after a Jordanian pilot was captured and who the extremists said had been burned to death, United States officials said Tuesday. The United Arab Emirates are demanding that the Pentagon improve its search-and-rescue efforts, including the use of V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, in northern Iraq, closer to the battleground, instead of basing the missions in Kuwait, administration officials said. The country’s pilots will not rejoin the fight until the Ospreys, which take off and land like helicopters but fly like planes, are put in place in northern Iraq.

The Hill reports Defense Secretary nominee Ash Carter on Wednesday said he would be "inclined" to provide weapons to the Ukraine, in contrast with the White House's current policy. "I am inclined in the direction of providing them arms," he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing. "The nature of those arms, I can't say right now," he said, noting that he would have to confer with military officials. The White House has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine in order to ward off further aggression from Russia, which invaded Ukraine in March. U.S. officials say Russia has been supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine who have killed more than 4,000 Ukrainian troops.

Al Jazeera reports Jordan has pledged to step up its role in the international coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), after the armed group killed a captured Jordanian pilot. King Abdullah II vowed on Wednesday that his country will take more retaliatory action, after hanging two convicted Iraqis on death row - female would-be suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi and al-Qaeda operative Ziad al-Karbouli. The execution by burning of airman Moaz al-Kassasbeh triggered international condemnation and prompted widespread anger in Jordan. Abdullah cut short a visit to the US and flew back to Amman, where he was greeted by large crowds at the airport before meeting with his security chiefs.